The Real Deal New York

Staten Island’s biggest landowner eyeing two Teleport sites

Staten Island’s biggest landowner, the Nicotra Group, owns 1 million square feet of commercial space in the borough and is angling to pick up two more city-owned sites on the 100-acre Teleport campus.

Richard and Lois Nicotra started their empire in the late 80s by building a 40,000-square-foot Class A office building to house the headquarters of their yogurt chain Everything Yogurt. They now have 500 employees and own seven commercial buildings, all in their Corporate Park of Staten Island.

The parcels they are looking to pick up next are located on the city’s Teleport campus, which was developed 30 years ago by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to host satellite communications, Crain’s reported.

The Nicotras submitted a bid in 2013 when the Economic Development Corporation solicited proposals for redevelopment of all or part of the site, and are now planning to bid on an 18-acre parcel that once housed satellite dishes for Merrill Lynch’s telecom branch. The EDC is expected to solicit proposals soon, and agency officials have said they would like to see the site used for manufacturing. [Crain’s] — Tess Hofmann